Long Journey to Freedom
One of my favourite moments of the seder, apart from the hilarity of the chad gadya, is the introduction to the counting of the Omer, the seven week period that the rabbis considered it took our ancestors to travel from Egypt to Mount Sinai, where they would eventually receive the Ten Commandments.
“Let this journey of our ancestors from the fetters of slavery, through a wilderness of uncertainty, to a place where they found guidance in God’s teaching, symbolise a similar journey for us: may we learn the lessons of the Seder: to strive for the knowledge and understanding to liberate ourselves from whatever holds us enslaved”
(p.36 in LJ Haggadah B’chol Dor Va-Dor).
There are many kinds of enslavement, and the journey to liberate ourselves is both communal and individual. We, as a people, have to go free together, and yet we have to feel the pain of slavery individually as well. The seder teaches us the communal side, it repeats the ‘we’, rather than the ‘I’, and the rituals of food, especially the focus on not eating chametz, but only matzah, can help us internalise the journey as well. I’m writing this on the 6th day of only eating Matzah. We have had no other bread products, pasta, pizza, crackers etc for nearly a week, and though it is frustrating (and I’m constantly hungry), the ritual really does help mark time. It reminds us that freedom is not something that happened overnight, or that we think about and celebrate once a year.
The week of Pesach reminds us how long it takes to become free. And though the festival of Pesach only lasts a week, the Omer count links Pesach to Shavuot, the festival of knowledge and taking on responsibility, a true sign of freedom. It was a 50 day journey to Mount Sinai and, as we know, the former slaves were still not ready (think the golden calf incident). Attaining freedom is not just about being out of immediate physical danger, it’s a process of building trust and knowledge, and a change of identity that takes a long time.
The harder side of the message of Pesach is that though we are free, many others are not. Rebuilding a life for the millions of Ukrainian refugees is not just a matter of getting out of the war zone, it is also about how they are received and treated, which is something that many of us are wanting to help with, but find it hard to know how to.
If you want to host, please contact me and I’ll put you in contact with locals who can help you through the process. As a community we are supporting the hosts by doing a big toiletry collection on 8th May. You can either sign up to help on the day or you can come and support the volunteers and drop off toiletries. However, there are loads of other things the organising group is working on apart from the basics. Work is being done to help the arrivals find jobs within their fields, or continue their university education, to help adults and children learn English if they don’t know it already. We will keep updating the community, but please email me (sandra@crouchendchavurah.org) if you want to help, or have special skills or knowledge that might be useful.
Pesach is not only an arduous journey for our digestive system, it is also a celebration of freedom, the ability to live in safety and in whatever law-abiding way we feel is right for us. We are free to be Jewish and to practice Judaism according to our ethics and values. One way to celebrate that is to join us for the Shabbat morning nature walk service on Hampstead Heath, on 30th April, 11-1pm. Like the ancient Israelites we will walk together, while celebrating both freedom and creation. There is nothing quite like it when you stop with your eyes closed, listen and sing shema surrounded by birdsong and your community.
Another way is to join us tomorrow, Friday 22nd April at 6.30, to celebrate Shabbat and its two themes of creation and freedom, whilst we sing, eat, and rejoice in being together as a community.
The road to the promised land is long, but it was walked in company, surrounded by a community who helped each other, and who celebrated their freedom immediately, not in retrospect, or in the years afterwards. Freedom, and celebrating it, go hand in hand in the Jewish story.